Japanese auto major Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd on Friday announced plans to locally assemble its premium sedan, Camry, in India at its Bangalore factory. HT reports.

Japanese auto major Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd on Friday announced plans to locally assemble its premium sedan, Camry, in India at its Bangalore factory.

The car would be assembled from July and re-launched in August in the market with a revised price tag. Till date, Toyota has been importing around 300 units of the Camry every year from Japan. Camry is the only car in its segment that is completely imported. Its competitors like Volkswagen Passat, Skoda Superb and Honda Accord are all assembled in India.

Importing a completely built unit (CBU) into India attracts a prohibitive effective duty of well over 100%, doubling the vehicle’s price.

When imported in completely knocked down (CKD) condition and assembled here, however, the duty becomes half.

Toyota is investing almost Rs 900 crore towards capacity expansion at its Bidadi factory, which would take its overall capacity to 310,000 units by next year. “Our plan is to start assembling the car in July and launch it in August,” said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director (sales and marketing), Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd. “It will be priced above Rs 20 lakh but we will share the exact price only during the launch.”

The company has also started export of its entry level sedan Etios and its hatchback variant Liva, with the first consignment of 247 cars to South Africa. Toyota is targeting exports of 20,000 units of the two cars to the South African market this year.